E-mail (Dated: 3/27/2017)

This week was definitely full of the spirit, of hardships, crazy and what I like to call Princess Bride!!!!

Last Monday and most of Tuesday we were in Guanajuato and we were with our District! Not too much happened those days but they were a little rough! Ha-ha

I don´t know if I´m going to do a time line of days today because I can´t remember what day was what. But man, this week all of our appointments were around an hour or half hour away for each one. Ha-ha so my legs are killing me, but hey I guess that is just the mission in general right!
Along with that this week we got three new investigators! Which are all pretty cool experiences and I will tell you why. So up until about Friday we didn´t have one new investigator, but we had about 10 future investigators. But on Friday we spent the entire day contacting. Which was actually one of my first days going door to door, because normally we just have done street contacting. Anyways so that was one of the first days I´ve had a door or should I say many days slammed in my face. The first one I was like.... Well that´s what that feels like. Ha-ha. Not a good feeling, but we kept pushing forward and we got turned down over and over again. It´s hard because all of Querétaro is just smacked full of Catholics and they don´t like to change.

Anyways, so about 5 in the afternoon Elder Paez was getting really down and so I said a little prayer on a bench nearby and I got up and said let’s go, I just had this over sense of joy and said I´m in charge right now got it. I said, you trust me and follow me and I promise within the first five houses we visit we will have a new investigator! So, I just started walking and I took us to a street we´ve never been too before and I said, alright Elder Paez it´s here choose a house, and he chose this house across the street and It was this old woman with all these lights and crosses and a picture with Mary on the inside and we told her who we were and if she had time for a message, and she let us in and were coming back to teach her!!!! When we left I started dancing and hitting Elder Paez, and I said you know what that was Paez, that was FAITH BRO! Ha-ha.

Then on Sunday we arrived an hour early to help our Branch President and then he asked me to give a short talk in sacrament meeting, I was like yeah…sure…Ha-Ha-ha. Inside I was like oh no! Ha-ha but I sat down and wrote this talk. When it came around to giving my talk, I dropped the paper and just started talking in my rough Spanish, but I was able to think in Spanish and find the words I wanted to say. So, I had a taste of the gift of tongues in that moment!

Then after church we decided to do a little contacting before we left to Romita to visit one of our investigators. After two full streets of no answers, I was like Elder Paez trust me again, because I got a feeling that we need to go to a different area. So, we walked about 20 minutes to this other area and got to this part of town Elder Paez said he had never been to before. I said, hey we´re about to get some new investigators. The first two houses we went to accepted our message and we will be going back this week to teach them. Then I had another feeling to go to another street and to pass all the houses and to go to this one on the very end and we got there and it was this sweet lady and she let us stop and share a message and she told us to come back when she has more time to know much! So, two new investigators and one future investigator within 15 minutes which was so awesome!

So now for the tough moments, today we had a lot of appointments fall through and a lot of traveling and sweat and moments that were spent praying.

Our investigator Francisco who has been an investigator for about 1 year now is just having a tough time accepting baptism. At this point we know that he is ready, but it´s like he just doesn´t believe in himself, plus the fact that his wife is a strong Catholic woman and doesn´t want him to. But last night we spent about two hours in Romita which is like us driving to Spanish Fork from our house and we spent an hour just looking for him, his brother is a member and has been working with us and so we spent some time with him, then we finally got Francisco to answer his door. and we got to talk with him and his wife, but after an hour he was just making excuses and said I´m not ready and I need my wife to understand, and we were like that´s why we are here, to help you understand what can we do to help you? and He was like no not now, and we were like why not, we have time? and so we just started teaching and by the end of it is was like they hadn´t heard a word we said... so that was a rough way to end the week, so please help pray for him and his wife.

Now, onto some funny moments, so on Fridays before we go back to our casa we stop by Pedros who is one of our investigators and get hamburgers! Anyways while waiting a catholic man comes up to us and says hey you are missions right, and we were like yeah nice to meet you, and then he says no that´s not a good thing, you guys are of the devil and are sinners. He says he guys walk around trying to get people to sin, he´s like who do you think you are, and then he starts trying to peach to us. and you all know me.... I don´t do well when people come up to me and tell me I´m something I´m not, and I don´t do well when people excuse our church of being of the devil? Ha-ha... so I was praying hard to have peace and to be able to not react..ha-ha. It´s probably a good thing that I can´t speak with a full vocabulary. Ha-ha, I had to keep reminding myself that I´m a missionary, but anyways it was kind of funny and that´s kind of a normal thing that happens here ha-ha but, yeah!

This kind been a good week full of mixed emotions but I´m good and just trying to get to the point that I can start teaching with more words! I love you all and I'm excited to hear from you!

Audio File to Family

Video - Finding New Investigators

Video- Getting Ready (Funny)

E-mail (Dated: 3/20/2017)

Hello all of you! I can´t believe that another week has already past. This week was full of love and a great sense of humility.

I admit my first week was very hard and there were days that I wanted to throw in the towel. However, I have been praying so much that my knees are starting to get brusies.

This week started out good, I went into with my best efforts and I could feel the strength of the lord with me. On Tuesday in our lessons I was finally able to understand and it was awesome. Also, I was able to start sharing parts of the lesson and my thoughts. I was feeling on cloud 9.

However, just like they say you have to stay humble, because on Wednesday I got knocked right back down, because I didn´t understand a thing and our investigators were being very stubborn. One of them is a man named Fransico and he has been an investigator for about 1 year now and he is ready, but man he is one stubborn guy and I thought I was stubborn, but its all good God has a plan for him.

The rest of the week went fairly smoothly, days are just starting to fly. This week I think that we broke the sound barrier because of how fast we were walking. Because each appointment or each place we walk to we try to walk to in a way that it looks to others that we have a purpose. Or the fact that we don´t want the dogs to get to us. hahahah.

But this week I have definitely felt peace from God. Each time I have felt like falling down I think of that quote that Blake has on his blog with the picture of him running the ball on the field and it says when you start to fall down or when you hit a road block, you don´t stop there, you pick yourself backup and try again. It´s the mistakes that you make and the effort that you put in that gives you that help to progress.

So, this week every time I start to feel like I´m falling down or I can´t do this, I think of those that have been where I am and I look up to God and I plead with him and I ask him to give me the strength to push forward and every time, though not always immediately I have felt him. Not only from him, but I feel the prayers and the love that I receive from home.

I can tell you that I´m not coming home until my work is done, because I have work to do and this, though not easy is blessing people here. Even though I can´t really talk to people too much here I have felt there love for me and I am loving the people here. Plus, the food is so good!!! haha

I love you all and know that I´m good and this week I have received so much help and I thank you all for your support!

Sorry, I don´t have too much time, but I will send a recording.

I´m trying my best to be a shovel and a planter in His garden. I´m trying my best to be like Him. but please keep me in your prayers to feel peace and patience.

I have to go, but thank you all for your love and support. I have you all in my heart and in my prayers and please let me know how I can serve all of you. When you feel lost or need help, drop to your knees and pray and remember blessings come in Gods time not ours, but he always has time to listen to you and to relieve you of your burdens, all you have to do is ask.

Audio File (Long)
Audio File to Family (Small)
Audio File: Brandon and His Companion

E-mail (Dated: 3/13/2017)

Well Family I have now been in the real work for a little more than a week now. It has been really hard. I´m not going to lie the language barrier is real. The day I got here was Monday around 9 at night. I was called to serve in the SILAO part of mexico, kind of close to Guanajato and this is the more sketchy part of the mission so I was thrown right in.

I have a voice message that I´m going to send with all the details, but I will give you a quick update.

The first week I had some cool moments and some humbling moments and a few funny and sketchy ones.

I´ll talk about the cool moments at first. I don´t speak spanish well at all and the whole week I just just practicing and praying and just asking God for help. I want to tell you that I started being able to understand, not all, but I could start to get the main idea. Not only that but during those lessons I had no idea what was going on, but I the feeling of the spirit in my heart. With that I´ve been able to bare my testimony.

The humbling. The people here have nothing, in fact when I say that I mean it quite literally, we could probably fit ten or more houses in ours and I would have to say that the homes here are actually no nicer that living in our garage at home. But what I´ve seen is all of these people being happy and loving and they feel so happy with what they have. Their church is in a tiny house and they are so proud of it and it has definitely humbled me and opened up my heart and my eyes.

Some funny. Well where do I start. haha we were going to a part just out of Silao which is a ranch. We were going up this sketchy hill where all these houses were when a dog came out of nowhere, it was just one so we started walking. Then the dog barks and all the sudden about ten or more other dogs came out of nowhere and started chasing us down this hill. Let we remind you these aren´t like small dogs, this is Pitbulls, rotwiellers, and labs and man that was funny but scary. But I know we were protected by the lord.

Another story, so we were sitting on a bench just about to get ready to leave and then all the sudden this lady comes up and starts talking to us. After a minute I knew it wasn´t a good conversation, then I got this feeling of darkness and I had the feeling to say to my companion Necesitamos Salir! Which means we need to leave. The we left and I asked my companion what she said and I guess she was telling us that she is God and the Savior and the Holy Ghost and was basically telling us to repent and come unto her and to stop teaching. So I´m grateful for the Holy Ghost in those moments.

My companion! Elder Paez is a good guy. He Has a big heart and a good missionary. He speaks little english, but with my spanish and his english we figure things out. I am grateful for his patience with me. But it definitely is hard because of the language barrier.

Many times this week I had to drop on my knees because I have felt lost and alone and weak, but God has quickly picked me back up.

I miss you all and have been thinking and praying for you all as well.

Audio Recording to Family

Letter from Mission President's Wife (Dated:3-8-2017)

Hello,

We are beyond excited to have Elder Harmon in the mission field with us. His spirit is awesome. Elder Harmon is going to serve in a smaller city, Silao. The branch there is flourishing and it was recently announced that in a few months, they will begin construction of a new chapel. You can feel of the saints excitement for the gospel and the opportunity to have a chapel. Right now they meet in a little house of prayer that is bursting at the seams. Anyway, his companion is Elder Páez. He is a great missionary. Sidenote: Elder Páez was trained by Elder Harmon and when he learned he was training and that another Elder Harmon was coming, he asked me if I thought he might get to train Elder Harmon. Of course I had no idea and said as much. But now he is and he is thrilled to be training. He is funny and works hard and I hope they will have a great time together. Thank you for your love and support of your son. He is just going to be so great! (It was dark when we finally arrived in Silao - hence the nighttime pic.)

Sister Williamson

P.S. If you're interested we have two Facebook pages I post things on and moms connect a bit on them as well.: 2016 Mexico Queretaro Mission and Mexico Queretaro LDS Mission. I can add you to the 2016 but not right sure who manages the other one.

First Trainer "Elder Paez"

E-mail (Dated: 3/6/2017)

Wow, I'm already out of the CCM and it has been quite the trip. We have been at the president's house eating and getting interviews. I haven't yet received who my new companion will be, or where I will go. But I want you all to know that I'm doing good. I don't have a lot of time to talk, in fact I have to get off pretty soon, but I love you all so much. I am pretty nervous, but I am happy and I am excited to be able to go out and to serve. I hope you are all doing well and I want you to know how blessed I am to have all of you in my life. I have received a lot of peace, though it has been hard, I know that I'm never alone because God is always with me and I can feel the spirit in my life. Please be safe and I love you all.

E-mail (Dated: 3/1/2017)

Wow another week into the mission! Time is just flying! In just about five days I´ll be out of the CCM!

Too be completely honest this week’s email may be a little shorter, just because we haven´t done too much.

Last, Wednesday after emailing I kind of had a rough day, because it sounded like a lot of you had a pretty rough past week. However, it just made me turn closer to Heavenly Father to ask him for his help.

Thursday, we had a pretty cool experience. We had TRC and we taught a real investigator. It went alright, but it was hard to teach and to understand. It was a girl that was about 23 and with a baby on the way and she I guess she just came across the CCM and was referred by a friend. The only thing I wish we would´ve done better is adjusted more to it being her first time, because they give us a topic to teach, so we kind of just taught the lesson given, which was the second lesson, so we should´ve done the first one. But all is well and I´m hoping that we didn´t scare her away.

Friday and Saturday were both just new days. Lots of studying and lots of work. Sunday, was pretty good it was our last normal Sunday, because this upcoming Sunday is fast Sunday. Sadly, I didn´t get to talk, and I haven´t had the chance to since I´ve been here. But I guess I´ll just have to bare my testimony again next week. The next class I put Elder Johnson in charge and it was really good. He kind of doesn´t like sharing his testimony very much, so Elder Wright and I decided to let him take charge. I think that it was a great experience for him. That night we also had the chance to be able to attend four devotionals, just like every Sunday hahaha. MUY LARGO! Our last devotional went really well to was taught by President Bennet and his wife! They talked about the Joseph Smith and just kind of prophets in general. That kind of seemed to be the topic for the whole day and kind of for the rest of the week up until today.

On Monday, we had a pretty chill day, but we had to say goodbye to our zone leaders and that was really sad. They were two of the best guys that I´ve ever met and Elder Burton kind of teaches like Elder Holland, so that just gives you a gist of what he is like. That day I also received the package of chips from Dad and Mom, thank you guys they were scrumptious. Also, we said goodbye to our really good Hermanas that we met on our first temple trip. They are the sweetest girls and they always wanted to take photos of me, with me, and they would always tell me that I have a face that is really sweet and welcoming and they said that will help me get into homes on the mission, so Monday was kind of a sad day.

Elder Thompson and Elder Gundersen and I have continued to grow closer.

Yesterday we also had a really great devotional given by President Bennett again! We talked a lot about being the missionaries that God needs and being exactly obedient. He shared with us a few things and one of them I want to share is in Romans 8:14, 16 and it talks about God wanting us to call him Aba. Then talked about the significance of that and then he gave us a promise. His promise was, ¨Yours sins are forgiven you, your families will live, for you will receive extraordinary help from the other side, you will also receive an extraordinary gift of tongues.¨ To me that promise was amazing. Because a lot of the time I sit here and worry about home, I worry about the language, I worry about being completely worthy to teach Gods message, and there are also times when I fear that I won´t be able to teach the people of Querétaro. However, receiving that promise gave me peace with all of those things. Along with giving me motivation to go out of this CCM full speed with the urge to preach to the people of México.

Today went really well, I woke up and took some photos with the people of Casa 22. Then I got the chance to be able to go to the temple again. It was awesome, this time I understood so much more and it went so much more smoothly. I´m praying that I can keep the feeling from inside this temple with me. I had the chance to just sit in the celestial room and to be able to pray and it was wonderful. Also, I came back and was able to play some basketball and I received another package from home and that was awesome thank you so much!

Anyways I think you´re all caught up! Now, next week I will be writing you all from the Mission Home in Querétaro!!!!!

Brandon Audio File